Description
Authors: Vincent Molenaar and Alexander Prinz, Paperback, 128 Pages, ISBN: 9781847974808, First Published in 2005, 2nd Edition in Paperback, 2013
- Specification Guide 1967 - 1979
As a child I felt a great affinity with vehicles of all types, especially older ones. Finally, in 1999,1 decided it was time to buy one for myself. I knew very little about them, but when I saw an old VW Bus for sale in a small town in Rid-Westfalen in Germany, I fell for its colour and its unique shape.I looked at the cutaway illustration of the T2a from the operating manual,which was displayed on the windscreen, and decided to take a test drive. It was very rusty, but the engine still ran well. It was a '69T2a Microbus with double sliding doors painted in Savanna Beige, and on a whim I decided to buy it.With this, the flames of my passion were inflamed.
I spent many hours restoring the Microbus, before moving on to my next project, in 2001 - a '70T2a Panelvan in relatively good condition, to which I returned the look of the first owner,'Klaus Esser KG:The vehicle identification certificate of this Bus, which I got from the Volkswagen AutoMuseum, had some M- and Group- codes on it that even the specialists could not crack.There was no information available on the internet or in the VW Bus literature about the codes, except some basic information on the web page of the Dutch T2 enthusiast Vincent Molenaar. After doing some research on those mysterious codes in the VW archives and compiling some fascinating information about the Bay Window Bus, I felt that I had to put it all together in a comprehensive guide.
I would like to acknowledge the assistance of Lothar Brune (thanks for your support), Rainer Esser, HansjOrg Fricke (HF), Alexander Gromow (AG) (thanks for your efforts), Harald Hohnholz (HH), Uwe Mergelsberg (UM), Kees Mieremet (KM), Karl Nachbar (KN), Christine Neefe, Aribert Kolms, Andreas Plogmaker (APS) (thanks for the great 'last-minute' pictures), Roland Ranges (RR),Volker Seitz, Axel Steiner, Michael Steinke (MS) (special thanks for proofreading the text),Wilhelm Thiele (WT), Eric Trinczek (ET), Olaf Weddern, Susanne Wiersch, Eckbert von Witzleben and Joachim Wolfer (JW). A number of companies/relief organizations provided amazing pictures: Arbeiter Samariter Bund (ASB), Avacon GmbH (A), Bahlsen GmbH & Co. KG (B), Bischoff & Hamel Zweigniederlassung der Automobil Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH (BH), Edeka Verlag GmbH (E), ExxonMobil Central Europe Holding GmbH (EM), Alfred Karcher GmbH & Co. KG (AK), Kraft Foods Deutschland GmbH (K), Landespolizeidirektion Schleswig-Holstein (PSH), Malteser Hilfsdienst e.V. (MHD), Miele & Cie. GmbH & Co. (M), Niedersachsische Wach- und Schliagesellschaft Eggeling & Schorling KG (NW), Otto Versand GmbH & Co. KG, Polizei Braunschweig (PB), Polizeiprasidium Munchen (PM), Pon's Automobielhandel B.V. (P), Seba Dynatronic (SD), Archiv Bjorn Steiger Stiftung (BS), Stiftung AutoMuseum Volkswagen (SAV), Stiftung Rheinisch-Westfalisches Archiv zu Kan (R) and Vaillant GmbH (V).Volkswagen Nutzfahrzeuge helped in locating specific photographs and information about the T2. Pictures without proof of origin are from the author's personal archive or were issued by the press department of Volkswagen Light Commercial Vehicles.
Special thanks go to my wife Simone.
Alexander Prinz, Hannover (Germany)
In the early 1990s I was an avid collector of Coca-Cola cans and I soon found that I needed a big car in order to visit swap meets around the country - empty cans take a lot of space. At about the same time, I was studying with Volkswagen-freak Jens Zee-mans, who talked me out of buying a Trabant Stationwagen and into the purchase of a 1978W/ Kombi. Soon the Konnbi replaced the hobby for which it had been bought in the first place. In October 1996 I bought a 1976 Bay Window Crew cab as a donor for the Kombi.While parting the car out, I stumbled across a small metal tagJens Zeemans told me it probably had something to do with optional extras, or'M-codes'. I could find little information about it on the internet, just a small list on the M-plate in the Split Window Bus. I joined the Type2.com mailing list and asked if anyone could help. Ron van Ness (USA) replied to my request and sent a list of M-codes he found on a microfiche - he even typed it all into the computer from the fiche reader screen!
Ron van Ness's list was the beginning of my investigation. In 1997 I started an internet page about the Bay Window M-plate and its codes, which was soon moved to the server of Type2.com. It was at about this time that I got in touch with Erik Meltzer and Andreas Plogmaker (both from Germany). Erik supplied me with more M-codes and with Andreas I exchanged M-plate codes. Around the year 2000 Alexander Prinz contacted me in relation to my M-code site. He was able to gain even more M-code info via his job at Volkswagen.
Since I started the M-code web page in 1997,1 have received lots of feedback and questions from Bay Window owners who want to know more about their Bus. Many people supplied me with additional info on their Bus, which gave me a good basis for research. It has given the data written in this book an extra dimension of reliability; not only did we look at what the original VW documentation told us, but we also related it to the Buses tIrt are out there. As a result, detailed info could be added on model years, export markets and so on. After a few years of email-correspondence, Alexander came up with the idea of writing a book together. At almost the same time David Eccles contacted me to ask if I was interested in doing the sequel of his VW Transporter and Microbus: Specification Guide 1950-1967.
Many thanks go to:the people of Type2.com for kindly hosting my M-plate pages; all the Bay Window owners who sent me the M-plates of their Buses and those whom I bothered at meetings with my M-plate questions; and the members of the Type2.com mailing list for answering many of my questions during the years.
Also many thanks go to the three major M-plate providers over the years: Willy Seegers, Sjef van Ginneken and Peter Witkamp. Furthermore, I would like to thank Jens Zeemans, David Eccles, Robert Markus of the Politiemuseum Apeldoorn, Klaas Niemeijer (KLN), Tom van Wissen (TvW), Gjalt Erkelens (GE), Peter and Mary Royall, and Pon's Automobielhandel B.V.
